And Again
by boyarina
Summary: Modern World Hinata is working on a project about dreams. Unbeknownst to her, her project participants will lead her to a startling discovery of how intertwined their lives had been in the past... and the implications of this to their present lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:**

One day, I found a couple hours that I had absolutely nothing to do. Hence, this.

**Disclaimer:**

Owning Naruto is like owning a ranch filled with horses – which IMPOSSIBLE.

_**And Again**_

_**By Boyarina**_

**Chapter 1: The Dots**

Hinata swatted the sensation away. It did not make any sense, irrational even. There had been the dreams that plagued her during the night. She could not remember any details (not even the slightest) but they seem to be connected or at least holds a good amount of significance to now.

What exactly she can't figure out.

A palm against her cheek, she squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to the present. There was the matter of her project deadline being due in a month's time that she needs to take care of.

Her latest research involves, ironically, dreams; their effects on the mental health of man and man's actions proceeding a dream sequence. She is working with people of different social statuses, types of work and family backgrounds. Four out of her five subjects were male; they were the only ones who had agreed to take part of the study amongst the twenty or so invitees she had her eye on. The lone female of the group was her life-long pal who had taken pity on her diminutive pool of candidates.

The material that she had gathered so far from her interviews, the written journal she had asked for her subjects to keep and the video captures of their day to day activity in the past few days yielded insubstantial information to provide a correlation between dreams and reality. Her subjects sometimes could provide good details of what transpired during their dreams as evidenced in their written journal and during interviews; other times its just one or two objects that really stood out to them that they could recall.

Yamanaka Ino, her best pal, tried too much in helping gain some positive results for the study. Her daily video captures oftentimes contains scenes of her exclaiming in delight about the coincidental happening of such and such event, or some very embarrassing dramatics about feeling a sense of déjà vu. Ino finally stopped doing her theatrics when Hinata revealed that her study will be shown in the university site and the ever so popular YouTube.

If Hinata really forced herself to look and give every meaning to every inconsequential detail on each of her subject's journal entry, there is probably some dots that she can connect and find the correlation of. But she is looking for that great big, glaring evidence that will bowl everyone over. Despite the incessant pestering of her radar for everything weird and alien, Hinata could not just believe until she has fool proof evidence.

Hinata once again shook her head. She really needs to focus. Taking one of the photocopied journal entries of Shino Aburame, she positioned it in front of her and read it for what seemed like the umpteenth time; but this time comparing it to all of her participant's journal entry.

What she discovered had her sitting bolt upright on her chair. For some reason, the bits and pieces of _all_ the journal entries seemed to be describing her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

This might just turn out to be a Hinata+Harem pairing. At first, I had it in my head as Hinata+Sasuke, but with how the way Shino just forcibly made his way into my writing - there is no stopping the fact that I had to throw Hinata in with every damn hunky looking guy from Naruto-verse.

**Disclaimer:**

Naruto will only be mine in my dreams. Will you even take that away?! Why?!

**And Again**

_**by Boyarina**_

**Chapter 2: Her Scar**

Shino Aburame had joined the study purely for the reason that her blue-black hair felt as though it had constantly ghosted his peripheral vision. He wasn't sure but the identity of the person bearing said mane could just be possibly her. He is not a believer of past-life theories, however this might just break his long standing belief.

Her speech rang familiar; her gestures seemed like habits that he had learned to tolerate; her hair he knew like the back of his hand. She was someone he knew, but the how's, the when's and the why's escaped him. He had supposed that Hinata Hyuuga would have a flicker of recognition at the sight of him when they first did their interview. However, no double-takes, nor gasps, not even a blink gave her a pause. She went through the hoops of the process like nothing unusual is happening.

Shino didn't want to say anything. If Hinata was ignoring the situation (and the eventual awkward, sad and/or happy realization of whatever this is), then he wouldn't go the lengths of acknowledging it. Perhaps, this is just the way it would be. After all, he was merely curious of the role she played back when she was not only a figment of his memory.

The trigger had been undeniably her. His dreams had been started to become vivid since day one of the project. Upon his waking, the swaths of her life that he had seen are still fresh, but before he could fully write them down they effervesce like alcohol to air.

He had jotted down incoherent phrases concerning gardens, insects, and garbled speech patterns. During one of his adventures asleep, he was a mantis, whispering codes to her ear. He knew she was following his instructions as she has not fallen yet. Fallen to whatever danger, he couldn't pin point.

Shino knew this much: they were in a tight spot and Hinata was going to him in supreme secrecy. He recalled feeling his adrenaline was pumping in either fear or excitement. The words he heard her mumbling to herself sounded something akin to: "Got to be there... Hurry... No time..." In his mind he was urging her as much as she was pushing herself.

The one tangible evidence that he has in order to substantiate that he had gone through with her occurred (despite its surrealism) was the (supposed) resulting scar she sustained in her haste to get to him. Right after the dream ended, he knew for a fact that it's there, but has no recollection where its placement is.

It came to him the second time he saw her. He didn't see the mark on her skin per se; the knowledge simply registered to him out of nowhere. He was startled, so much so that he began their interview, which normally she would have started.

"You have a scar on your," Shino pointed to his own posterior, one lone eyebrow raised, "Right?"

Hinata's right cheek spasmed in response to his rather unorthodox question. "What?" She asked tightly.

"Well, it is true, isn't it?" He pressed, ignoring the fact the he had made her entirely uncomfortable in the span of a second. It'll take a while for the red tinge of her cheeks to go away.

In defence, her hands clamped down on her behind, the cloud of embarrassment fighting over her angered features.

"How...?!" She exclaimed, already half-way out of her seat. "Did... Did I rip my pants?!" She twisted, trying to get as much view of her back-side.

"No," Shino said, matter-of-factly. When Hinata swivelled to the front and fixed him a stare, he deeply considered taking back his words.

"What I meant is," he coughed, "You look like someone who would have a scar on her bum." His statement didn't appear as though it helped his cause.

Hinata was nonplussed; Shino could tell as much. She slowly sat back down, befuddled as ever. What frustrated him was the fact that him knowing about her scar did not even prompt for her to remember the things that he is suddenly discovering.

"You..." She seemed to be debating what question to ask. If he was lucky, she might just be puzzling over the strangeness of the situation and consequently confronting it head on.

"...look like a closet pervert," She finished, dashing his hopes and making him wince.

No one could refute it. Her statement was like a returning whiplash and Shino knew he really deserved that.

**The P.S.**

Yes, it is now decided. This would be a Hinata+Harem fic. Thank you. Bow.


End file.
